


Not Alone

by lanalucy



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Broken Bones, Community: hc_bingo, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Injury Recovery, Kindness, Pre-Relationship, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 05:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3798442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cally's leaving sickbay and doesn't really want to be alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Alone

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Little Help From a Friend](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3082937) by [lanalucy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy). 



> Written for hc_bingo round five - square seventeen: medication

Cally sat on the edge of the sickbay bed, waiting for Cottle to officially release her. He’d stopped giving her morpha, and she was restless. She was alone, and not really looking forward to going back to general quarters. Chief had come only that once, and after her ridiculous confession of her feelings and his horror over beating her, she expected things to be weird between them. Maybe he’d even schedule them on opposite shifts for a while. The curtains swished a bit, and she glanced over her shoulder. It hurt, the stretch in her jaw, but felt kinda good, too.

“Brendan?” It was hard to get the word out with so many wires in her mouth.

He stuck fingers through the belt loops in his fatigue pants, looking down at the floor. “Wanted to see how you were doing? And maybe if Cottle’s going to let you go today, I can walk you back to your quarters?”

Rather than say anything, she nodded and tried to smile. She was pretty sure it came across as a grimace. She so did not want to look in the mirror any time soon.

Cottle finally came back, flipping through some forms. “Henderson, you can go. You’re going to be eating through a straw for a while, but you should be able to resume your duties. I’m giving you a mild pain reliever, and if the pain gets too much, come back and see me. I’ll see what I can do. We’re getting low on some of that stuff, though.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” She thought it came out more like ‘sank you,’ but he seemed to understand what she was saying.

“Get out of here.” He turned to give Brendan a look. “You here to see me, Costanza?”

Brendan straightened. “No, sir. I came to see if I could walk her to her quarters.”

Cottle waved his hand. “Get, then. See if you can get her to eat something. She needs more protein.”

Cally slid off the bed, and when her feet touched the ground, Brendan was there with his arm out. She smiled up at him as she put her arm through his.

Their walk to the mess was quiet. He was one of the few people she knew who didn’t feel the need to fill up silence with useless words. He got her a drink, asking the mess cook to add a little bit of extra protein to it, and when they sat down, he poked a straw into the goop and held it out to her with a smile.

“Thank you.”

There were a few moments of silence, then he asked, “Cally. Is that short for something?”

“Callandra.” 

She wasn’t sure it came out right, but he repeated it. “Callandra.”

She shivered. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had used her full name, and there was something in the way he said it that felt really good.

“It’s beautiful. I think that’s what I’ll call you from now on.” 

He grinned at her, and she smiled back as best she could while she was sucking craptastic protein through a straw. When she got to the bottom and the straw couldn’t pull up any more shake, he held out his hand. “Come on. I’ll walk you back. When’s your next shift?”

“Two days.”

“I’m off until tomorrow. Want to come back to my rack instead, Callandra? It’ll be quiet, and you won’t have to be alone.”

She squeezed his hand and leaned on his arm. The comfort he offered was easy, quiet. He never pushed. It felt good when he held her. “I’d like that.”


End file.
